Photo by Linda Comins Conservator Giorgio Gikas works to detach the Doughboy from his base during its move for restoration.

Wheeling’s Doughboy Monument has stood guard at Wheeling Park, day and night, season after season, since Memorial Day 1931.

Those nine decades of fluctuating heat and humidity, snow and ice, and rain and wind, combined with unfortunate acts of vandalism have taken a heavy toll.

Missing his rifle, covered with dents and dings, and its pressed copper surface pale green with corrosion, the Doughboy was badly in need of a makeover.

This past November, the Wheeling Doughboy Restoration Committee made arrangements with veteran conservator Giorgio Gikas of the Detroit-based Venus Bronze Works Inc., to restore the statue to a condition as close as possible to original. Gikas, who recently completed an 11-foot tall bronze RoboCop statue for the Motor City, has restored at least seven other Doughboy statues throughout the Midwest.

Gikas will correct unsuccessful past repairs, replace missing elements like the rifle and the barbed wire, and clean and wax the sculpture to a dark green to olive green patina with black and bronze background.

When all this work is completed, the Doughboy will be returned to Wheeling in time for a Memorial Day 2020 re-installation.

In the meantime, the pedestal will be refreshed with a cleaning and resetting of the granite back, the creation of a wheelchair accessible walkway, and new landscaping in the area surrounding the statue.

The Wheeling Doughboy Restoration Committee is now asking for donations for the project.

As the engraving on the Wheeling Doughboy’s granite base reminds us, this monument was dedicated in honor of “all who served,” meaning the hundreds of Wheeling men and women, who went off to fight in 1917-18, many of whom did not return from the war. In the years since, the monument has come to symbolize the sacrifice and service of all veterans.

To donate, mail a check in any amount payable to Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley, write “Doughboy Monument Restoration Fund” in the memo line, and mail to Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley, 1226 Chapline St., Wheeling, WV 26003. If you’d like to dedicate your donation to a particular veteran, please include name, service branch, and rank.

People can also donate online by visiting the Wheeling Doughboy GoFundMe page at charity.gofundme.com/dough-fund-me or by Googling “Dough Fund Me Wheeling.”